Sawyer (the Soybean) earned his FMX (Flyball Master Excellent) this past weekend, in York, PA. FMX is 10,000 points...he's been running for about a year and a half (started Aug. 06). I'm so proud of him...as he's turned out to be a pretty fast little man...despite his bad knee. (he's got surgery sometime next spring...so I wanted him to get his title now!) What a good little bean!

We just found out that he has a luxating patella. Seems to only bother him when he's playing flyball (I think it slips out when he's on the box...though he was fine this weekend). No pain, and the flyball doesn't make it worse...I talked to a flyball competitor/veterinarian. He's got surgery sometime next year when I can gather up the $$$ for it.

But finding it out, it made so much sense why he's slower off the box than going out!

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

Well I'm glad you were able to find out what was bothering him and good luck on the surgery.

Earl had an ACL repair done of the summer and the woman at the obedience club said I should try out flyball with him and that it would put less stress on his knee than agility would. When I think of flyball I don't think of it being easy on the joints with those sudden stops and starts.

We just found out that he has a luxating patella. Seems to only bother him when he's playing flyball (I think it slips out when he's on the box...though he was fine this weekend). No pain, and the flyball doesn't make it worse...I talked to a flyball competitor/veterinarian. He's got surgery sometime next year when I can gather up the $$$ for it.

But finding it out, it made so much sense why he's slower off the box than going out!

Well I'm glad you were able to find out what was bothering him and good luck on the surgery.

Earl had an ACL repair done of the summer and the woman at the obedience club said I should try out flyball with him and that it would put less stress on his knee than agility would. When I think of flyball I don't think of it being easy on the joints with those sudden stops and starts.

We just found out that he has a luxating patella. Seems to only bother him when he's playing flyball (I think it slips out when he's on the box...though he was fine this weekend). No pain, and the flyball doesn't make it worse...I talked to a flyball competitor/veterinarian. He's got surgery sometime next year when I can gather up the $$$ for it.

But finding it out, it made so much sense why he's slower off the box than going out!

There's less twisting (I think) in flyball, than in agility...they always go the same way in flyball. And good teams will teach a box turn, so there is much less stress on the joints...the dogs don't stop at the box, it's one fluid movement up onto it, and pushing off. Higher impact than in agility, but the dog doesn't do tight turns and quick changes of direction.

I know a bunch of dogs that run flyball after knee surgeries, and some do agility too. I also know a bunch of HD dogs that run flyball...we have two on our team.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw